I recently invested in a Universal Power Supply aka battery backup + surge protector for my FutureBit Apollo (first generation) miner. I know it can't run on battery supply for very long - the UPS says it can run for about 16 minutes on battery alone.

But my thinking is, I wanted long enough to be able to gracefully shut down the mining software and let the device cool itself down before power is totally lost. I am hoping that will help reduce any issues with damage if the power were to go out for an extended period of time.

In order to get even 16 minutes of uptime on battery, I had to get a somewhat beefy UPS device (1500VA), given the power draw of the mining equipment. I'll probably get another one for my other FutureBit Apollo (second generation). It is on one now, but the battery capacity is much smaller and won't give me much time to have it cool itself down safely before total power loss.

The UPS does come with some software integration that can signal the controlling computer to shut itself down. Unfortunately, the software only work with Windows, and I am running Linux. But, 16 minutes is long enough to SSH in to a machine and kill a service.

What about you? Do any of you have power backups to handle power outages? What about just surge protection? I am slightly paranoid about experiencing damage to my machines, as I would be hard-pressed to spend the money to replace them.